Amouage Gold Woman photo by the brand apped by Emmanuelle
““Her voice is full of money,” he said suddenly.
That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money—that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it … an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered “Listen.”
Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow) The Great Gatsby 1974
Daisy Buchanan’s voice draws men like eager moths to a dancing flame. Her glittering happiness bubbles like a fountain, and her singsong inflection enchants as surely as a siren’s song. So what if it’s all for show? Tonight is a party like no other; the pool shines glassy under a silver moon as perfect as a song lyric, the jazz is fizzing, and gorgeous creatures shimmy and kick to the Charleston. He watches, captivated, rueful, and in love all over again. And over the echoes of Bye Bye Blackbird floats a scent of money, an airy glitter of golden resins, cut-diamond aldehydes and expensive flowers that Nick Carraway will remember looking back on this night. It is Amouage Gold Woman.
Guy Robert, courtesy of Michael Edwards©
Amouage, founded in 1983 by the royal household of Oman, launched Amouage Gold Woman as its inaugural fragrance. Perfumer extraordinaire Guy Robert was lured to create it with promises of creative freedom and a bottomless account with which to make what Robert himself would consider his masterpiece. It is a scintillating, heart-flutteringly beautiful fragrance, a confection of champagne bubbles, glinting resins, and tendrils of incense, all fluttering like jeweled hummingbirds around each other. And at the center of it all is a distinct impression of something metallic but warm, like molten gold. Like Gold Man, which was to be Robert’s final creation, Gold Woman is built around a heart of frankincense, myrrh and rose. But it has a diamond-like effervescence, and a lusher rose and frankincense heart, than its handsome sibling.
“A promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour”
image by the brand
The first time I encountered Amouage Gold Woman, Glitter and Be Gay from Candide filled my ears, Barbara Cooks’s lyric coloratura bubbling along with Gold Woman’s initial shower of sparkling aldehydes. But returning to it now, it puts me in mind of Daisy Buchanan’s voice; the perfectly timed rise and fall of the glittering notes, the entrancing glamour, the underlay of something enigmatic. The top spins out of the bottle like a ballerina’s fouettes, with so much lily of the valley spilling into the Dom Perignon aldehydes that it feels like a giddy homage to Diorrissimo. The muguet is spritely, heady, dizzyingly pretty, like hundreds of tiny wind chimes ringing all at once. But then a rather stately rose makes her way through. Soon, truly lovely frankincense weaves in like a silken thread. Gold Woman starts to become lusher and sultrier, less party girl and more lady of the house.
Amouage Gold Man and Woman, ad by Amouage
“the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again.”
After a time, the rose becomes sharper, thornier in contrast to the chilly, powdery orris that turns up. Then that metallic note rings through like a gold bell. It smells like rose oxide, but I’m wondering if it is in fact aldehyde. As the metal odor grows more noticeable, more like gold coins, the rose swells in the background and jasmine adds its springlike flourish and a quiet indolic purr. These notes rise and fall like Daisy’s laughter; sometimes the metal is at the forefront, at other times it is the rose. Robert seems to play with heat and cold throughout Amouage Gold Woman, creating a tension between the warm, opulent flowers in the heart and the metallic, buzzy notes of the top. They rise and fall in a rhythm that continues into the dry-down. Then I smell that perfectly pitched frankincense; as warming and gently smoky as embers in a brazier. The soft furry smell of civet gives a low growl complemented by myrrh (which to me often smells a bit like fur that someone has dusted with face powder).
Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow) The Great Gatsby 1974
“… the king’s daughter, the golden girl”
Robert was careful to add the woods in just the right place to add density and depth without competing with the scintillant notes or intruding on the rose and incense. They tread slowly and quietly in the base, sandalwood more prominent than cedar, adding balance to the trapeze-like swing of the florals and froth. Amouage Gold Woman winds down like a Gatsby party in the wee hours. The smokiness of the frankincense clings, the rose and sandalwood lean into each other, and the sparkle persists like the last few drops of champagne in the melted ice.
Daisy turns and smiles goodnights as she leaves her guests to the dawn. The smell of money is still there, clinking softly.
Notes: Rose, lily of the valley, frankincense, myrrh, orris, jasmine, ambergris, civet, musk, cedarwood, sandalwood.
Disclaimer: Bottle of Amouage Gold Woman graciously provided by Europerfumes, U.S distributors for Amouage. My opinions, as always, are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
Bottle of Amouage Gold Woman, photo by Lauryn
Thanks to the superlative generosity of Europerfumes, we have a tester 100 ml bottle of Amouage Gold Woman for one registered reader in the U.S. only. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what strikes you about Amouage Gold Woman based on Lauryn’s review and what your favourite Amouage fragrance is. Draw closes 1/5/2022.
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Please read Lauryn’s review of Gold Man here
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